As per this report, the estimated number of tobacco users in India is 274.9 million, with 163.7 million users of only smokeless tobacco, 68.9 million only smokers, and 42.3 million users of both smoking and smokeless tobacco.

As per Report on Tobacco Control in India, 2004, an estimated number of 8-9 Lakh people die every year in India due to diseases caused by consumption of tobacco products.

Government of India has enacted “The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003” (COTPA) to protect citizens, with special attention to risk groups such as pregnant women and children from involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke and to discourage consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products including Pan Masala and Gutkha by imposing various regulatory measures as given under :-

I. Ban on direct/indirect advertisement of tobacco products. (Section -5)
II. Ban on sale of tobacco products to children below 18 year and ban on sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of the educational institution. (Section– 6)
III. Specified health warnings on tobacco products. (Section - 7)

This information was given by Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Sh. Ghulam Nabi Azad in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.